Ilene Jones Cornwell was born on September 27, 1942, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Although she never completed a formal college degree, she took courses at the University of Tennessee (1975), Tennessee State University (1987-1988), Cumberland University (1990), and Nashville Travel Institute (1991). At various times in her life, she has worked as the Public Information Officer for the Tennessee Historical Commission (1978-1981), Publications Editor and Public Information Officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (1978-1981), Copy Editor and Editorial Cartoonist for the West Nashville Digest (1993-1994), Editor and Partner in the New South Architectural Press (1993-1998), General Editor and Writer for the Serviceberry Press (1993-1998 and 2002-), Administrative Assistant and Teacher at Fisk University (1995-1997), Publications Designer and Typesetter for Typography 2000 (1995-), and Webmaster for WebText 2000 (1995-2002). Cornwell has also written several books, including Footsteps along the Harpeth (1976) and Travel guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway between Natchez, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee (1984).

Paul Mathes Fink was born on June 8, 1892. A lifelong resident of Jonesborough, Tennessee, Fink was deeply interested in Tennessee history and devoted to historic preservation. He served as Washington County's official historian, was an active member of the Historic Jonesborough restoration program, and held office in the Tennessee Historical Society, the Tennessee Archaeological Society, and the Tennessee Folklore Society. Fink was also an active mountaineer and conservationist and was instrumental in establishing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee and North Carolina. Fink wrote several books, including That's why they call it (1956), Jonesborough: the first century of Tennessee's first town (1972), Bits of mountain speech (1974), and Backpacking was the only way (1975). He died in March of 1980.

Paul Jay Adams is perhaps best known for his Mt. LeConte (1968) and the collection of Tennessee mollusca (acknowledged as the largest in existence) that he assembled with Manley Barber. Adams was born on September 4, 1901. In 1924, he became a charter member of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club and of the Knoxville chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society. Several years later, he served as a guide for members of the National Park Commission who had been assigned to evaluate the Great Smoky Mountains as a possible park site. He and his wife, Maxine Day Adams, established Alpine Floral Gardens in Alpine, Tennessee in 1934 but quickly relocated to Crab Orchard as their business grew. The couple moved to Oak Ridge in 1943 so that Paul Adams could work as the superintendent of fire prevention and safety for the Atomic Energy Commission but returned to Crab Orchard immediately after the end of World War II. After Paul Adams retired in 1961, he and his wife developed and operated a thriving weaving business. Adams died on February 2, 1985 in Crab Orchard.